Current Graduate Students

Sandra Bohn
Hometown: Dayton, Ohio
Undergraduate Institution: New College of Florida
Degree earned: B.A. Psychology/Marine Biology
Current research interests: Echolocation, dolphin communication, photo-identification.

Kelly Caffery
Hometown: Buffalo, New York
Undergraduate Institution: Pennsylvania State University
Degree earned: B.S. Animal BioScience
Graduate Institution: SUNY College at Buffalo
Degree Earned: M.A. in Biology
Masters Thesis: Scent Discrimination in Lions and Tigers
Current research interests: Environmental enrichment for captive animals, social play and tactile behaviors in rough toothed and bottlenose dolphins, and animal cogniton.

Erica Hernandez
Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana
Undergraduate Institution: Rice University
Degree earned: B.A. Psychology
Graduate Instititution: University of Southern Mississippi
Degree earned: M.A. Experimental Psychology
Masters Thesis: Time and frequency parameters of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) whistles as predictors of surface behavior in the Mississippi Sound
Current research interest: Investigating measures of novelty detection for marine mammals using auditory evoked potentials, associating dolphin whistles with concurrent behavior.

Lauren Highfill
Hometown: Burlington, North Carolina
Undergraduate Institution: Meredith College
Degree earned: B.A. Psychology
Graduate Institution: University of Southern Mississippi
Degree Earned: M.A. Experimental Psychology
Masters Thesis: Judging personality traits in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
Current research interests: Animal personality, theory of mind, and environmental enrichment.

Rachel Kristiansen
Hometown: Sheridan, Wyoming
Undergraduate Institution: Southampton College of Long Island University
Degree earned: B.S. Psychology/Biology
Current research interests: Social interactions between Bottlenose and Tucuxi dolphins in Manzanillo, Costa Rica.

Natalija Lace
Hometown: Riga, Latvia
Undergraduate Institution: Riga Technical University
Degree earned: B.S. Electrical Engineering
Undergraduate Institution: University of South Florida
Degree earned: B.A. Psychology
Current research interests: Bioacoustics.

Angela Mackey
Hometown: Laramie, Wyoming
Undergraduate Institution: San Diego State University
Degree earned: B.S. Biology (Zoology), Psychology
Current research interests: Episodic memory in bottlenose dolphins, polar bear cognition, and development of play in bottlenose dolphins.

Radhika Makecha
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Undergraduate Institution: Texas A&M University
Degree earned: B.S. Wildlife and Fisheries Science
Graduate Instititution: University of Southern Mississippi
Degree earned: M.A. Experimental Psychology
Masters Thesis: The ontogeny of social play partners in bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) calves
Current Research interests: The ontogeny of social play behaviors in bottlenose dolphin calves; classifying emotions in bottlenose dolphins.

Lance Miller
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Undergraduate Institution: Rollins College
Degree earned: B.A. Psychology; Biology
Current Research interests: Environmental enrichment, animal welfare, cetacean behavior, conservation education, anthropogenic effects, population estimates and seasonal habitat utilization.

Lauren Miller
Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana
Undergraduate Institution: Hillsdale College
Degree earned: B.S. Biology
Current Research interests: Tactile communication as reconciliatory behavior, preference for novelty amongst bottlenose dolphins.

Robin Duncan Paulos
Hometown: Seal Cove, Maine
Undergraduate Institution: University of Maine, Orono
Degree earned: BS Biology
Graduate Institution: University of Southern Mississippi
Degree earned: MA Psychology
Master's Title: Non-vocal communication in the Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus)
Current research interests: Sperm whale vocalizations, non-vocal communication in dolphin species, cetacean behavior

Lauren Schneider
Hometown: Lockport, New York
Undergraduate Institution: Canisius College
Degree earned: B.S. Biology & Psychology
Current research interests: Sperm whale and bottlenose dolphin acoustics, photo-identification.

Peter Sugarman
Hometown: Bellevue, Washington
Undergraduate Institution: Rutgers University
Degree earned: BA Experimental Psychology
Graduate Institution: Western Washington University
Degree earned: MS computer science
artificial intelligence
Graduate Institution: Florida State University
Degree earned: MS Marine Biology
Current research interests: Acoustic communication of dolphins; discrimination and categorization of dolphin whistles

Deirdre Yeater
Hometown: Syracuse, New York
Undergraduate Institution: SUNY Maritime College
Degree earned: B.S. Marine Environmental Science
Graduate Instititution: University of Southern Mississippi
Degree earned: M.A. Experimental Psychology
Masters Thesis: Cognitive and social factors that influence voluntary regurgitation in captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
Current research interests: Individual differences in rough-toothed dolphin behavior, the effects of boat traffic and human swimmers on rough-toothed dolphin behavior in Utila, Honduras, and a comparison of rough-toothed, spinner, and bottlenose dolphin behavior.